Choice Words

“You don’t have a choice.”

 

That’s the problem.

I never HAD a choice.

 

No one asked me

No one sought my opinion

No one gave me an option

No one.

 

And how do they know that

They’re making the right choice

On my behalf?

 

Do they know me well enough

To force me to accept their choices and decisions

That they claim to make

For my own good?

 

No.

 

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 

In that case

My feet are blistering

My pores are leaking

And Satan can’t be that far away.

 

I DO have a choice.

 

I choose not to even entertain your choices

And instead

I choose to

Follow my heart and mind

Make my own mistakes

Carve my own

Do whatever the fuck I want.

 

You don’t have any autonomy

Over me

Regardless of how much money or clout I have

Or I don’t have.

 

“You don’t have a choice.”

 

No.

 

YOU don’t have a choice.

The Worst Thing About Math

What is the worst thing about math?

 

Addition?

Subtraction?

Multiplication?

Distribution?

Division?

Fractions?

Algebra?

Calculus?

Geometry?

 

The worst thing about math

Is being in a room

Full of Asian students

Who have this shit down pat

And I

Despite sharing the same color skin

Try as I might

Can’t do this crap.

Defeat

It’s bad enough to lose.

 

It’s worse when you lose

to a giant.

 

It doesn’t matter if the giant

is taller than you

is stronger than you

is richer than you

is held in higher regard than you.

 

A giant is a giant.

 

You look at David slaying Goliath

Cinderella finding her prince

the USA beating the Soviet Union in Lake Placid

“There’s no need to fear – Underdog is here!”

 

You also look at the situation as

the harassed kid taking on the bullies/terrorists

on the playground,

only the playground has

the eyes of the entire world gazing at the battle therein

and more people are backing the bully

than backing you.

 

You work your ass off.

 

You devote everything in your life to success.

 

You analyze every conceivable outcome.

 

You pray to Whomever for guidance.

 

You do it all…

 

…and on the day, the giant still wins.

Goliath smashes David.

 

The wicked step-family kills Cinderella.

 

The USA, Russia, and now China are the bullies of the world.

 

Underdog is sent to the point.

 

And the bullies shove you in your locker to die

after smashing your glasses

and giving you a wedgie.

 

You’ve lost to a giant.

 

Meanwhile, the giant celebrates another victory

because Whomever took the day off.

 

(written after the Netherlands lost to Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final)

The Wait

Who have we been waiting for?

I don’t know.

 

What have we been waiting for?

I don’t know.

 

Where have we been waiting?

I don’t know.

 

When did we start waiting?

I don’t know.

 

Why have we been waiting?

I don’t know.

 

How long have we been waiting?

I don’t know.

 

Then, what DO you know?

I DO know that I’m tired of waiting.

 

(inspired by the line “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”, from “Poem for South American Women” by June Jordan)